Prophet vs Master Chief
by Tanner Shull
Summary: Master Chief lands on a strange Earth. Can he escape with his life? Prophet is in conflict with his circuitry; who will win, man or machine?


Chapter 1

A Pelican flew towards Earth. In the pilot seat was one whose name was known throughout the galaxy. The Covenant called him Demon. The UNSC called him Master Chief. "Cortana, give me a preliminary scan. I want to know what we are up against." "Okay, scanning." Cortana looked blankly into the distance for a few seconds, then frowned. "It looks like Earth, but there's something wrong. The sea level, the structures, even the continents are in different places. There is an unidentified signal coming from the surface. It's distinctly alien, yet it's not like any I've ever seen or even heard of." "Is that even possible?" Master Chief asked incredulously. In all their adventures, Cortana never once had found anything she couldn't identify. "I'm scanning again." Cortana looked into the distance once again, then gasped. "Chief, I found something. I couldn't identify the signal, but I found out what was wrong with Earth." "What is it?" Master Chief asked. "It's from a different time period. I tapped into one of the satellites orbiting the Earth, and I got a year. It's 2047, John. We're in the past."

Chapter 2

Master Chief was silent for a long while. When he spoke, he said, "Cortana, how is this even possible? I am aware of every UNSC project in progress, and there are none that deal with time travel." Cortana thought for a minute, then said, "I don't know. Maybe a freak slipspace accident? This Pelican is equipped with an experimental slipspace drive. Maybe it malfunctioned. Either way, it doesn't matter how we got here, it just matters that we are here. How are we, sorry, you going to fit in in 2047? We don't even know what their technology is like!" Master Chief thought for a moment, then said, "We will just have to see what happens." And with that, he started his descent into the atmosphere.

On Earth

"Sir, there's an unknown object exiting our atmosphere!!" In the C.E.L.L. world headquarters, the atmospheric intrusion alarms were blaring. And this time, it was no drill. "Give me a trajectory immediately. I want to know where this thing is going to land!" said the defense manager of C.E.L.L. "Sir, it looks like it's heading for New York." Everyone went quiet, as they all knew what was in New York. "Tell our production facility in New York to double their defenses and triple the guards. Prophet might take advantage of this distraction."

Chapter 3

"John." No answer. "John!" Still no answer. "JOHN WAKE UP!!" The Spartan finally moved. "I'm up. What happened?" Master Chief asked. "The Pelican's engines were damaged in the slipspace accident. One of them failed as we were exiting the atmosphere." "Where did we land?" "We landed in a place the humans of this time call New York. It looks abandoned, but the signal is coming from here. It's...massive. There's no other word for it. The energy readings are way off the charts. Like, an order of magnitude off the charts. Whatever this thing is, it is huge." Cortana paused, then said "The Pelican is trashed. The only thing salvageable is the slipspace drive, luckily. We should look around and find out more about this place." Master Chief stood up. "Good idea. Give me a scan for life-forms. I want to know if we are alone." "Okay, scanning." Cortana paused for a moment, then said "There are many life forms, but there is a large concentration of humans in an area about twenty miles from here." She frowned. "They are all near the alien signal." Master Chief looked down for a moment, then said "Whatever it is, they must be guarding it. That's where we are heading." Cortana nodded. "Okay. One other thing. There's a weird life-form signal coming from near the guarded area. It's...different. The life-form is human, but there is a large part of it that is similar to the unidentified signal." "Looks like we need to be careful going in then. We don't want to end up way in over our heads." said Master Chief as he started towards the compound and whatever lay within.

Chapter 4

"Alright, I'm near the compound." said Prophet. His nanosuit scanned for threats, and found none in a one mile radius. "Okay, good. Move up to a better vantage point and see what the perimeter looks like." said Psycho. "Look for an unguarded doorway, a vent, anything that will give you a way in." "You don't have to hold my hand, Psycho, this isn't my first infil mission." replied Prophet. "I know, but one slip up by you, my friend, and our buddies the C.E.L.L. over here get the last nanosuit in existence!! So please excuse me, if I'm a little nervous!!" yelled Psycho, demonstrating how he got his nickname. "Calm down Psycho. I see a vent over near the west side of the dam. If I could only-" Prophet was cut off as his suit detected a potential threat approaching from the south. "Recommend Maximum Cloak." said the armor's AI, always analyzing the combat situation and recommending the best possible action. Prophet then disappeared from sight.

Meanwhile…

"Um, John. The hybrid life-form? It looks like it just went into active camouflage. The thing is, it just disappeared from radar as well. Elite camouflage creates a cloaking field around them, but this camouflage seems like it reflects light around it. Radar must work the same way. I'm switching to motion detection. It's less accurate, but it should keep up with him." "Good, keep me updated." John thought to himself, how can technology from 500 years ago be more advanced than alien technology from the present? The Spartan started moving towards the compound once again, when he heard something. It sounded like the swishing of a tree branch. He turned towards the source of the sound, and saw what looked like a shimmer out of the corner of his eye. "John, it's here." "I know." Master Chief said as he shouldered his MA5C assault rifle. He looked around, his eyes scanning for movement.

Chapter 5

Prophet looked at the intruder with intrigue. He had not seen this type of armor before. He scanned the newcomer and determined that it had heavy armor plating and some type of energy field around the armor. The soldier's weapon was chambered for a 7.62x51 mm round, along with a concealed secondary chambered for .50 compact rounds. The weapons were of unknown origin. The unknown intruder also had 2 fragmentation grenades. There was something…off about him. Prophet scanned him again, this time with a full body scan. The soldier had genetic enhancements and some kind of neural implant. The armor was not of C.E.L.L. origin, nor Ceph. Intentions: unknown. Origin: unknown. Threat Level: High. Conclusion: recommend elimination of subject.

Meanwhile…

"John he's moving!! Position 2 meters east of you!!" Master Chief turned to see a man clad in unfamiliar armor glowing blue running out of the undergrowth at incredible speed. He fired his assault rifle at him, but the bullets bounced off of the man like he was made of steel. John had only a moment to think How? before the soldier was upon him. The unknown soldier hit Master Chief with the force of a freight train. The Spartan was threw back several feet before he regained his footing. "John, this guy's suit…it's alive!! It's shifting as he moves. And when you fired at him, the suit turned into some type of scale armor. We're going to have to be careful. We don't know what else this thing can do." "Okay." Master Chief pulled out a drag grenade and tossed it at the attacker. The grenade exploded on impact. However, when the dust cleared, the man was just standing there. He hadn't been fazed at all. "My turn." the soldier said in a robotic voice. He shouldered an assault rifle and fired a long burst at the Spartan. Master Chief took all shots in stride and ran toward his opponent. He was ready to finish this.

Chapter 6

Prophet looked at the armor clad soldier rushing toward him. "Forward opposition not ideal. Recommend alternative fighting method." said his suit's AI. As his opponent reached him, he sidestepped him and elbowed him in the small of the neck.

"John, he just disabled my scanning capabilities!! That hit damaged some of the circuitry in your neural implant!! I won't be able to-" Cortana was cut off mid sentence as the part of Master Chief's neural implant that allowed him to communicate with Cortana failed. "Cortana? Cortana do you read?" John then realized that he was on his own against this man.

Prophet cloaked as his opponent recovered from what was likely a jarring blow. He retreated into the undergrowth and readied his Predator Bow.

Master Chief looked around for his opponent. He had no way of tracking him, and the soldier seemed to have disappeared. All of a sudden, he heard a whistling through the air. He felt a heavy impact on his shoulder, and his shields went down. He thought, How? What does he have that can take my shields down with one shot? He then looked down, and saw what collapsed his shields: an arrow. He only had time to think, What? before another arrow hit him, this time sending a powerful electric charge through his armor and him. He screamed in agony. Then, the soldier appeared in front of him. John looked at this man who brought him to his knees, something not even Hunters could accomplish. "Who are you?" Master Chief asked. Prophet looked down at this man, at his end, yet only concerned with who had beaten him. His programming said eliminate, but his humanity said otherwise. He was in a dilemma; which one should he listen to? John looked up at him, wondering when he would deal the final blow. The soldier stood there for a while, then removed the arrow from the Chief's armor and extended a hand. "I am Prophet. I am a member of a resistance against a global corporation known as C.E.L.L. They have enslaved Earth's people and turned New York into a production facility. I am extremely impressed by your skills. It has been a long while since I was truly tested in combat." The Spartan looked at this man, bewildered. "Why didn't you kill me? It seemed like that was your goal." Prophet looked at him, then said, "It was. But, after fighting you, I felt like you would be a valuable ally in this war. And, in return for your help, I may be able to help with your ship. So, do we have a deal?" Master Chief extended his hand. "Yes we do." They then turned towards the C.E.L.L. facility, ready to shut it down for good


End file.
